It may come as a surprise to some but England are actually joint-favourites to win the Euros alongside world champions France. Currently England are being backed by a number of online bookmakers at even prices alongside Les Bleus. For more in depth coverage consult a full guide on how to bet on the Euros.
As originally planned, just a year further on, Euro 2021 will kick off in Rome with a Group A match between Italy and Turkey on Friday 11 June. Playing in Group D, England fans won’t have to wait too long to see their team in action. England kick start their Euros with a bang at home to Croatia on Sunday 13 June at Wembley.
A highly anticipated match up against their nascent rivals Croatia, England will be looking to take all three points after a semi final capitulation to the Croats three years ago at the World Cup in Russia.
Indeed England have a potentially tricky group to navigate should they fail to get their Euro 2021 campaign off to a resounding start. A number of betting tips for the Euros last time round backed England as was the case in Russia, although it ended disastrously five years ago at the hands of minnows Iceland.
Despite being joint favourites to win the tournament at around 5.00 going into the competition, the Three Lions have some of the highest odds of winning their group among the rest of the favourites. The likes of France, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium are all being backed to have an easier time topping their group than England.
This indicates that the experts think it could be a tricky match up against the likes of Croatia, Scotland and even the Czech Republic. Scotland are very much the unknown quantity for England considering the intensity of the rivalry, although a match on home turf at Wembley would welcome a repeat of their match up back in Euro 2016.
Having said that, England are favourites in all of their match ups and are currently priced at around 1.50 to be the eventual winners of Group D.
Though it’s not common for England fans to get ahead of themselves, the potential permutations, should England get out of their group, could prove worrisome for onlookers.
If England were to top their group it might not prove to be the safest strategy for progression through the tournament. As the official Euro 2021 schedule shows, if England were to top Group D they would be placed into a match up against the second placed finishers in Group F – largest held to be this tournament’s “Group of Death”.
Although it would tee up a match on home turf, Group F currently contains world champions France, current European champions Portugal, and fierce rivals Germany. Although the Germans floundered at the group stage of the World Cup just three years ago, history has not been kind to England when it comes to facing the Germans in the knockout stages of major competitions.
Conversely should England fail to top their group but finish second it would place them against the runners up of Group E containing the likes of Spain, Sweden, Slovakia and Poland.
Though the Spaniards are certainly a shadow of their former selves they are favourites to top their group. Indeed Group E is no doubt one of the weaker collections of teams in the competition with a sauntering and ageing Sweden side, a Poland team punctuated by the presence of Bayern Munich marksman Robert Lewandowski and newcomers Slovakia. It could provide a more palatable route to the final eight should England make it out of their group.
England alongside France are current favourites to lift the Euro 2021 trophy which would end the Three Lions’ 55-year drought of major competitive silverware should they succeed. The final is at Wembley, which could prove further encouragement to get the business done this summer.
Alongside France and England, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain are currently the lowest priced favourites to win this year’s European Championships.